Life in the Cassette ranks
by Pyro-Kale
Summary: G1: Symphony, a human girl- or so she thought-, was rather shocked to hear Buzzsaw talk one day, and learn she was in fact not Solomon Wave's daughter, but Soundwave, a powerful Decpticon's. The Transformers are changing back, can Symphony handle it? E
1. Chapter 1

Damn you Ruben

_Damn you Ruben. Damn you to hell. _

She thought, anger flowing through her as her fingers ghosted over the keyboard.

Symphony Wave. A perfectly boring young lady of 14- who was always teased by her friends for being one of the youngest in year 10. Who was sick and tired of feeling anger inside her when she couldn't let it out. Who hated having to live with Ruben and Frasier and Solomon and sometimes even herself.

It was getting to the point where she had to admit to herself: she hated it.

Hated it all.

Hated her friends, hated her family- hated her life. Even herself. Everything just made her so _mad_!

A knock on the door.

"Go away Ruben, or I swear I will-!" Symphony started.

"You will what?" came Solomon's flat, monotonous voice from the door. Solomon Wave opened the door and stepped through to talk to his daughter.

"Go away." the replied hiss cut through Solomon more than he'd like to show. "What is bothering you?" he continued.

"Nothing. Now _go away_."

"Is Ruben getting on your nerves?" Solomon asked.

"Yes! Yes, yes, yes! There! Happy now? I hate him and Frasier!" Symphony screamed, _I hate you too_, she thought, _I could just never say it_.

Solomon flinched… almost like he had heard her comment. But that was impossible.

Solomon ran his fingers through his blue hair, showing probably the most emotion Symphony had seen him convey in a long time. Why could Solomon always keep calm and indifferent? It wasn't fair! It was never fair.

Symphony continued to glare at her father. Suddenly there was a timid knock on the doorframe, behind Solomon.

"Symph…?" Ruben asked as he and his twin, Frasier, peeked out from behind their father.

"What?" Symphony said as scathingly as possible.

The purple haired twin stepped out into Symphony's line of sight. "Symph, I'm sorry I got on your nerves and junk. Honest." Ruben said. Frasier came to stand by his twin. "You… you don't really hate us… do you?" the red head asked.

Symphony sighed. "No. You just annoy me so much." _But I do, I still hate you. _

Ruben and Frasier's faces lit up. "Good. So you'll come out of your room and watch the movie with us?" Frasier asked carefully.

Another sigh and Symphony nodded, "yes." Suddenly all the tension was broken and the twins beamed. "Alright! Let's go Symph!"

"_Don't _call me Symph. It's _Symphony_." Symphony corrected automatically.

Rumble just chuckled.

The two boys led her into the sitting room. They sat down on the sofa as Solomon prepared the film.

_How does he do that? I could've sworn he was still in my room…_ Symphony thought to herself. Though, strangely, it was almost like Solomon smiled at her, at her thought, which she though _in her head_. Weird or what?

"The film ready Dad?" Ruben asked. _Curse his impatience._

"Affirmative."

Soon the opening titles to some stupid movie the twins so desperately wanted to watch came up on the screen. Symphony sighed. Ravage, the enormous black cat, came over and jumped up next to her.

The pink haired girl smiled. Ravage understood her. It was almost like he understood everything. But, of course, Ravage was just a cat. An animal, like Laserbeak and Buzzsaw, the birds.

Stupid names really. Who names a bird Laserbeak? Or Buzzsaw for that matter? And what was up with 'Ravage'? Symphony never heard of the cat doing such barbaric things. The twins? Maybe. Ravage? No.

"Ooh! The movies starting!" Ruben exclaimed.

Symphony got ready for a very dull 2 hours involving nothing but explosions and violence.

_How do they convince Solomon to let them _watch_ this stuff? _

"It wasn't easy I can tell you."

Symphony turned very slowly to Buzzsaw, who had just appeared not only to talk, but read her mind.

Symphony knew a few solid facts: Buzzsaw was not a parrot. Only parrots talk. No type of bird can read minds. And then, she fainted.


	2. Chapter 2

When Symphony woke up she was confused and had one hell of a headache

When Symphony woke up she was confused and had one hell of a headache. The girl kept her eyes closed for a moment.

Just to think. Just to remember. Remember that-

"Oh my God. Buzzsaw can talk."

No sooner than she said the words, her head shot up in panicked shock and collided with Rubens', who had been leaning over her. He looked concerned. They all looked concerned- frag that, even the bloody _cat_ looked concerned.

But cats can't look concerned. That would be silly. Mind you, birds can't talk. Or read minds for that matter.

"Symphony?" the calm, gentle voice interrupted Symphony's thoughts. She looked straight into her father's deep red eyes.

_Red _eyes. There was something unnatural about Solomon's eyes. About all their eyes. Red. Even Symphony had red eyes; Solomon had always claimed it was an eye condition, and encouraged Symphony and her brothers to wear sunglasses whenever possible. The only one of the family who didn't have red eyes was Laserbeak. But, let's race it: Laserbeak had yellow eyes, could birds even have yellow eyes? Symphony remembered in year 8 when a strict teacher named Mr. Edwins had tried to make her take her pink framed sunglasses off, saying they were _inappropriate_.

Ruben and Frasier had seen this in break and came over to "sort out whoever this screwball thinks he is". What freaked Symphony out was that the twins weren't anywhere in sight. Then they were just… there. Just like that. As if they knew Symphony needed help.

The teacher had taken them all to his office to get a strict talking to. He had threatened to call Solomon and tell him about "this unruly behaviour", the twins had encouraged him to do so, and so Solomon was summoned.

He was in the office in 10 minutes. It took Symphony half an hour to walk to school. Solomon had been at _work_. Weird. Plus Solomon had had a real go at Mr. Edwins, well, not had a go as much as scare the bajeebers out of the poor sod. Solomon was like that; he was very intimidating and always got his own way.

So, Symphony was allowed to keep her sunglasses. And after school- the episode had taken up the rest of the entire day- they all went out for ice cream. No kidding, they really did. Solomon had insisted. Symphony had realised a long time ago Solomon spoiled them. Oh, well. She wasn't complaining.

"Symphony?" Solomon repeated.

"Wha- ah, yeah?"

_Idiot girl! _She mentally scolded herself, _you're in the middle of a crisis and all you can think about is eye colour?! What the hell?!_

"Symphony: Attention. Language: unacceptable."

Symphony jaw almost hit the floor. "D-dad? Did you just… can you… what's… what in God's name is going on?!" Symphony was kind of afraid, this was… this was all so creepy.

"Primus. 'What in Primus's name is going on?' you mean." Ravage stated matter-of-factly.

_And the bleeding cat just spoke. Oh my God._

"Primus." Solomon corrected. Symphony glared, no one was giving her any clues about what was going on.

"Symphony, we need to talk. I need to tell you something." Solomon almost sighed- almost, Solomon never sighed. Or groaned or cried or growled or did anything like that. He seldom laughed and when he did it sounded chilling… and sinister.

Symphony took a deep breath, got up, and followed her dad into the kitchen.

She had a feeling something big was happening.

Mainly because the creepiest events in her life just happened.

When Symphony and Solomon had vanished into the kitchen Ruben turned to the others. "I wonder how she's gonna take this. You guys think she'll be okay?" he asked, worried.

Ravage gave a grunt and lied down on the rug.

"Of course she'll be okay." He said his deep voice barely above a purr.

"She's a Cassette."


	3. Chapter 3

"Symphony," Solomon started, it was interesting for Symphony to see his apparent difficulty finding the right words

"Symphony," Solomon started, it was interesting for Symphony to see his apparent difficulty finding the right words. Solomon sighed, Symph frowned. Solomon never sighed. Ever.

"Symphony," the blue haired man started again.

"What I'm about to tell you will change your life forever. Are you prepared to face the consequences of that?"

Symphony though it over for a moment, then answered softly.

"No. No, I don't think I'm prepared at all."

Solomon almost flinched at that, he had expected her to answer positively, 'yes' or 'you bet'… but no. Symphony had told him the blatant truth that she wasn't. This was unexpected. He had expected her to be angry too. But she wasn't.

Just indifferent, cold like Solomon. Cold like Soundwave. He almost smiled with pride. Symphony took after him. That made him feel… proud.

"I don't think I'll ever be prepared. That's the truth but I'm just going to have to take it. Aren't I? And I will. I'll adjust." The cold, cold facts. The logical answer. The calm expression, Solomon smiled at that.

He started to tell her everything. Everything from the beginning. Missing no detail. Describing his incompetent subordinates and power mad superiors. Talking about the Autobots and their pathetic ways. Saying everything. Even that he had killed so many, and made it so far because of it.

And she took it. All of it. She just absorbed all of it. Even the fact her father- her _creator_- was a cold sparked murderer.

The funny thing was that she seemed to… almost feel comforted by it. Solomon supposed it was just that she knew now. About herself and her family.

"So, you're… _we're_ all changing back now? Back into robots? Into Cybertronians?" Symphony questioned her voice slow and deliberate, Solomon probably suspected it had something to do with the way he just dropped a bomb in her lap- metaphorically speaking of course, he would never do something like that to one of his precious Cassettes.

Back to reality- Solomon nodded. "It's a lot to take in, I know." He said, understanding. Solomon then leaned forward and grasped his daughter's hand.

"But you have to understand Symphony, I kept this from you to keep you safe- I don't want anything to hurt you, ever. And I'm sorry you have to get sucked into this war. I never intended this to happen."

But Symphony smiled, "am I going to have to fight?" she asked. Solomon nodded, then shook his head. "No. I can have you put on constant monitor duty or something along those lines. But you might have to fight. And you might have to kill."

Symphony's smile grew, "and I'm going to meet them- the Decepticons? And, and help make a difference."

Solomon smiled too. "Yes. You will meet them, all of them. Unfortunately. But Megatron has been looking forward to meeting you."

"Me? Why me?" the girl asked, confused.

"Because, Symphony, you are the only Cassette femme ever to be born in existence. The others are all male. You are the only one. Autobot or Decepticon." Solomon explained.

Symphony's eyes widened at that. "The only one? Wow." Then she turned all her focus on her father.

"When can we go? When can I meet them?"

"You're really excited about this aren't you?" Solomon asked.

"No," Symphony answered sarcastically, "I am absolutely not amused or intrigued in any way. In fact can we just stay here and be boring instead?"

That amused Solomon, "you know your sense of humour is just like Ravage's?"

"Really? Good, we can laugh about things behind other people's backs together. That'll be so much fun." She responded drily, then paused.

"Are they all really that crazy and suicidal?" she asked, willing to know everything about her new comrades.

"Some of them. And too answer your original question: no we can't go yet, and yes you can meet some of them."

That brightened Symphony up. "Really? Who?"

Solomon smiled, "Megatron. And maybe Starscream. He might want to come along too. He was quite interested in your existence."

Symphony gaped, "and they can come? When can they come?"

"I will call them now and invite them over tonight." Solomon answered. As soon as the words had left his mouth Ruben- no, _Rumble_- popped his head round the door.

"What? Screamer and Megs are coming round tonight? Cripes! Better clean up then!" he exclaimed jokingly. Solomon was not amused. "Rumble," Solo- Soundwave obviously could slip in and out of habit easily. "Everything in our living quarters is perfectly tidy."

"Yeah, yeah! I know." Rumble turned to Symphony, "so, how taking it Sis?" he said softly, actually concerned.

Symphony opened her mouth and shut it again. How was she taking it? She had no idea. This was all happening so fast she could hardly keep up!

"I'll manage." She said. And she would. Primus so help her, she'd survived high school and she'd survive this too.

She would. And she'd do something worthwhile, too.

She was going to be a Decepticon.

A Cassettecon.


	4. Chapter 4

Jasper: Hi, Everybody!

Sixshot: Hi, Jasper!

Jasper: Sixshot, this is not the Simpsons.

Sixshot: *Sniff* well sometimes I wish it was!

Jasper: … Okay! Moving on from Sixshot's emotional trauma- I just want to thank everyone who reviewed and say I'm trying to make my updates longer but it's not easy! Sorry! But I'm hoping this one and the next one will be longer and more informative. So onwards- to the kingdom of cupcakes!

Sixshot: Jasp' means kingdom of stories- I mean story.

_Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god- I mean Primus. Damn, that's hard to remember! _

_Language. _

Symphony growled, _So-oundwave I really don't appreciate you reading my thoughts. _She snapped in her head.

The girl- no femme- reflected on how annoying it was having a telepath for a fa-creator, and wished with everything going on around her Soundwave wouldn't keep looking at what was going on inside her head. Symphony had no mental blocks yet: she couldn't stop people with telepathic abilities invading her mind. Not that mental blocks would really be that helpful against a powerful telepath like Soundwave- his mind was much to strong.

Plus they shared a natural connection between them. A family connection, closely related mechs or femmes could reach out to their creators, creations, co-creations, through their thoughts. It was a mental connection- a family bond.

A way to insure safety for sparklings and younglings. A way to keep relatives together no matter what.

Oh, goody. Now Symphony had no way of parting from her annoying siblings.

_Aw, you love us really. _

Rumble's voice infiltrated her mind. Symphony had to stop herself from telling her annoying older brother where he could go stick it- she didn't think Soundwave would appreciate it much.

_Rumble, GET OUT OF MY HEAD! _

She mentally shouted. Rumble withdrew from her mind, retreating as far away as possible from the connection. Symphony almost felt bad, she appeared to have hurt his feelings.

***DING-DONG***

The doorbell sounded, Symphony stiffened. They had arrived! The girl felt excitement race through her- she was about to meet the leader of the Decepticons himself!

Symphony walked into the living room and stood by her brothers. Frenzy smiled at her, _Nervous?_ He asked, Symphony tilted her head slightly to the left considering.

_Yeah. I suppose so._ She nodded, Frenzy's smile grew, _don't be. It's only Screamer and Megs! But try not to make a complete idiot of yourself. _He smirked.

_Frenzy, do you _know_ how much I want to hurt you right now? _

_Any violence between Cassettes will be duly punished. _Soundwave's monotone voice echoed in her head.

Then someone stepped in through the door. Symphony's first thought was that somehow they were being attacked by evil aliens. Then she remembered: _they were_ the evil aliens.

The figure came to stand in the middle of the room; he had a yellow visor that covered his face completely. He was dressed in purple. 

Symphony sent a wordless question to her brothers.

_Shockwave._ Laserbeak told her.

Shockwave looked round the room. He stopped at Symphony. The visor glowed in an eerie way. The Guardian of Cybertron walked towards her. Soundwave entered the room. "Shockwave." The former Gunformer turned towards him.

"Yes?" his voice was crisp and cold.

"At what time specifically are Megatron and Starscream going to arrive?" Soundwave asked.

"Lord Megatron said he would be here shortly. The exact time is unknown. He was… preoccupied."

"Huh?" Rumble frowned, Shockwave sighed, "he and Starscream are arguing over parking. Again."

Shockwave once again turned towards Symphony. "You must be the female Cassette. I was told about your existence. It is incredible. I have never heard of another Cassette femme, and I had a limitless amount of data and knowledge back on Cybertron. I am very interested in your being."

Symphony just stared at him. Red eyes locked with the yellow visor, after a few seconds she responded with a smile, "It's very interesting to meet you too, Shockwave, sir." Shockwave's visor brightened.

Buzzsaw turned to Laserbeak confused, _Was that sarcasm? Did she just go all sarcastic at Shockwave, or was she being serious? I can never tell with Symphony. _The yellow bird asked.

_I think it's just Symphony being Symphony. _Ravage answered for Laserbeak. He had a Cheshire Cat grin displayed clearly and amusement was written all over his furry feline face.

Everyone's attention was caught by the sound of two voices bickering. Symphony heard an almost child like voice, high pitched and whiney complain to whoever was on the other side of the argument.

"I still don't see why we can't use the machine to turn us back to normal! It would be more efficient and-"

The voice was interrupted by a sinister sounding one.

"Silence fool! As always you fail to see the long term difficulties, yes, we would be changed back quickly- but, there is a problem of power. Do you know how much energy it takes to run that thing? A lot! Not to mention the fact we would have to regroup everyone and find a place isolated enough so we could use it! No, it is better to wait for us to return to normal naturally."

The second voice was gravelly and older; it had a feeling of authority to it. Different to the other's babyish one.

"Oh, but why…?"

Symphony was amused: the first voice was _pouting_; it was certainly the younger of the two.

_I'm guessing that Lord Megatron and Air Commander Starscream have arrived? _Symphony mused.

Two men stepped through the door. The first was tall and muscled, he seemed dangerous. White hair and business suit, with a long jacket covering him. His eyes were as bright as the flames of Pit. Obviously the owner of the second voice, the white clothed man had a menacing aura of pure evil. But maybe the enormous cannon-gun on his arm had something to do with it.

The second was more athletically built, he had the appearance of only muscle covering his bones, he was very thin. Thin but handsome, unruly black hair covered his eyes. Symphony found his eyes fascinating, standard red, except they were impossibly bright and almost gem like. White trousers, amber shirt under a red short sleeved jacket and knee length white boots with the occasional blue- the same colour blue as his gloves.

Lord Megatron frowned, "Soundwave, report." He ordered.

"Cassettes: present. Decepticon High Command: present. Suggestion: relocation." Soundwave supplied.

"What do you mean?" the Decepticon leader asked. Soundwave started to elaborate, "Current location: unsuitable. Relocation to better location: required."

Megatron seemed to consider for a moment, "very well. Soundwave I presume you have means of transportation?"

"Affirmative."

"Then we will set out immediately. Soundwave, you will follow our vehicle to the selected meeting point. The Constructicons are there. I believe they have an important announcement to make. We will all be able to get acquainted there. Decepticons, follow me!"

They complied, Starscream sighing to himself, and Symphony wondering what kind of leader would put a whiney youngling as his Second in Command?

_Yeah, Optimus Prime's catchphrase is _so_ much better. _Symphony heard Buzzsaw muse.

_Hey,_ Rumble started; _at least it beats 'Decepticons retreat'! _


	5. Chapter 5

Jasper: Hello everyone! Thank you all so much for the lovely reviews! I just wanted to point out- if any of you don't know who Symphony is going to fall for its Eject. Bet you can't wait to see how Soundwave reacts to _that._ Also, thank you for all your advice Arcanus Prime! No, I don't mind criticism- as long as it's nice and helpful. Also pointing out:

_**SYMPHONY IS NOT A MARY SUE. SO DON'T EVEN CONSIDER IT.**_

Jasper: Well, now I've got _that_ of my chest- on with the story!

Hotshot: Finally I'm falling into recharge here!

Starscream: Yeah! And when are you gonna focus on me?!

Jasper: Starscream, this isn't about you. It's about Soundwave and his Cassettes- parental love and all that. Now, STOP INTERRUPTING AND LET ME GET ON WITH THE BLEEDING STORY!!

Sixshot: Yeah!

Jasper: Uh!

Symphony felt her spark pulse nervously- yes, they still had sparks rather than hearts. Symphony supposed that was why Solomon never took them to a hospital, even when Rub-Rumble had broken his arm.

Symphony almost smiled at the memory…

_--Flashback—_

"_Hey, Symph, Frais! Check this out!" Ruben yelled at his siblings to attract their attention, he had been poised on a skateboard in a mock surfing position on top of the bar used by the public for getting down the terrifying stone steps- God forbid old ladies stumbled. _

"_What are you _doing_ Rube?" Frasier had hollered back. _

"_Jus' watch this!" the purple haired boy had shouted at the redhead._

_They had indeed watched, and what they watched was Ruben skating down the rail, completely messing up in the middle, and falling off the skateboard onto the steps with a painful __**crunch**__. _

"_Ouch." Symphony muttered, actually feeling slightly sympathetic for her idiotic older brother- or was that the chips she had for lunch backing up? Oh, well. It would pass either way. _

_She and Frasier walked over to their groaning brother. Frasier put a hand on Ruben's shoulder. _

"_You ok bro?" he inquired. _

"_My arm hurts like Pit! Ow, oh man! Sh-!" Ruben exclaimed. _

"_Hey, watch it bro! Language an' all!" Frasier intervened frowning. _

"_-oulder pain." Ruben finished pointedly, then seeing as it was a highly inappropriate moment, when one was injured and the other supposed to show the responsible actions and help _responsibly_, they both burst out laughing. They could've done something _smart _and used a piece of fabric to support Ruben's arm or contacted Solomon- or even stop acting like inconsiderate moronic little twerps. But no. _

_Symphony remembered feeling anxious- only slightly, mind. Ruben's arm could've been badly broken, bones completely shattered! That wasn't too likely; it wasn't that bad a fall. But still…_

_When Frasier had finally recovered he called Solomon. _

_Their father had been there in less than fifteen minutes. Thirteen minutes thirty seven seconds, if you wanted the precise time. Symphony had timed him. _

_Instead of taking them to a hospital- or even the doctor's clinic, they had gone straight home, Solomon had tended to Ruben's broken arm himself. _

_Symphony had watched. _

_--End Flashback—_

The truth was: Symphony was fascinated by medicine and treating injuries. She someday hoped to be doctor. It gave her a feeling of power, being responsible for others.

Solomon had seen this and Symphony had attended numerous first aid courses and training camps, he was confidant in her abilities and gave her support when needed.

Symphony looked out of the window at the trees flying past. She hated to admit it but… that time at the park really made her scared. There were certain memories of petrifying events that frightened her badly. At times like that only her father could calm her. She had to admit being around her dad was comforting, he made her feel safe.

Symphony glanced over at her brothers. Rumble and Frenzy were playing "punch me" in the seats to the left of her, Ravage was curled up in the boot- he had insisted going in there, Symphony thought he just wanted to get away from the twins.

The pink haired girl looked down at the bright yellow bird on her lap; Buzzsaw looked straight back at her. She sighed and put her hand on Buzzsaw's head, the weight of the bird was comforting. Symphony felt a hand on her shoulder, she looked round to meet Rumble's eyes.

"Hey, Symph… are you sure you're ok n' all? I mean you seem sorta… tense."

Symphony put on her best "I'm fine, so don't worry about me and please don't pay any attention to me" look, hey, it worked at school.

"Yeah, I'm fi-"

"Don't lie to us Symph. Please. Look, we know your scared but… we really needed to tell ya this 'cus if we didn't the change might happen n' you wouldn't be prepared n' all. An' jus' so ya know… s'kay too be afraid of th' rest of th' 'Cons. Frag, half the scrapheads out there wouldn't dare ta' come near em'. But, ya don't need to worry 'cus we'll protect ya."

Symphony looked round Rumble to see Frenzy nod his head furiously. She felt as if she were about to cry. Rumble reached out to take her hand and hold it tight, she squeezed back.

"We're here for ya, sis." The Cassette said quietly.

Symphony nodded, "I know Ruben, and I'll be ok." Later Symphony would realise she had called her brother by his human moniker.

"Course ya will. You got us don't ya? What more do ya need?" Frenzy grinned.

Symphony laughed at that. It reminded Soundwave faintly softly tinkering bells.

The former Cassette Player smiled to himself, the sound of his children laughing was the most wonderful sound in the whole of the Galaxy to him, out of all the beautiful music he could play he would listen to his children's laughter over and over and over again. It just made him happy.

Soundwave glanced at the Sat. Nav. Why did he have one of these things anyway? They annoyed even him, and Soundwave's temper was almost limitless. They just weren't natural.

"Turn left at the next junction." Came the irritating, yet slightly sinister, command. Soundwave didn't know who that woman was but whoever she may be he took his hat of to her.

She seemed to have mastered the art of "scary speaking" as it was so called by the rest of the Decepticons. Why, she could make Soundwave feel slightly uncomfortable. It was just the way she said everything: "Go this way", "You're going on the wrong direction", "Turn right". Soundwave had to admire the humans for this abomination. It had the perfect blend of irritation that made you want to strangle someone, and fear that made you obey orders without question.

"Continue straight on."

Funny enough, the machine reminded him of his old squad commander, she had always been horrifically naggy and rather irksome. Soundwave supposed that was why he tore her mind apart and rearranged her personality to better suit his preference.

Hadn't the other troops been surprised when she completely succumbed to his will? He was effectively, completely, in charge of the squad after that. Soundwave always got his own way. One way or another.

He had clawed his way up the ranks, both to protect his Cassettes and to satisfy his own need for power. Once the war was over maybe, just maybe, he could find his bondmate again and they could all settle down as a family.

Soundwave missed Lyrical a lot. He knew she was still on Cybertron, he knew that the Cassettes missed her terribly too.

_Lyrical…_

Soundwave hoped he would see her again soon. But he knew it was unlikely.

Looking in the side mirror of the car he caught a glimpse of Symphony holding Rumble's hand. _She's scared…_ he whispered to himself in his head.

_She looks so much like Lyrical, even in human form. Eyes, colour of her hair. Just what I imagined her mother to look like if she suffered the same fate as us. _

Soundwave focused once again on the road. But he couldn't shake the feeling of thinking about Lyrical gave him. _Huh, guess I'm a little to in love for my good._

"Hey, Dad!" Soundwave turned round to see Frenzy's impatient face staring at him with an eager expression.

"We gonna be there any time soon?"

Soundwave looked back to the road. "Approximately 1 hour until we reach our destination."

"Damn." Frenzy cursed.

"Frenzy: attention. Language: unacceptable." Soundwave scolded.

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever." Frenzy replied, waving his hand in a "get on with it" gesture.

"Frenzy: attention. Attitude: unacceptable." Soundwave told the redhead.

"Oh, come on!" Frenzy cried.

"Frenzy: attention. Suggestion: shut up."

Both Soundwave and Frenzy turned to Rumble slowly. "Rumble, do not antagonise your brother. Or me." Soundwave said, eyes fixed on Rumble's.

"Dad! Eyes on the road! We're gonna crash!" Symphony suddenly shouted.

Soundwave turned back to the road, just in time to see a sharp turning and a tree oh so conveniently placed in front of the car.

Soundwave swerved to avoid certain crushing.

"Frag, that was close."

"Frenzy," said a slightly ruffled Soundwave, "quiet."


	6. Chapter 6

Jasper: Thank all you guys so much for the reviews! It's nice to get some support! And I don't own anything except Symphony. Anyway, here's the next chapter- sorry it's late, I had major writer's block, and then a cold, then I had to study for this big English assessment… but enough of the excuses! On with the chapter!

Rumble: And it's about bloody time too.

0o0o0o0o0

"Are we nearly there yet?" Rumble asked.

"Negative." Soundwave replied.

"Are we nearly there yet?" Rumble asked. Again.

"Negative." Soundwave replied. For the four-hundred-and-eighty-seventh time, but, hey, whose keeping count?

"Are we-"

_Rumble! SHUT UP! No, we are not nearly there! But maybe if you kept your big mouth shut we might arrive without crashing- or sooner. _Ravage snarled.

Silence.

"Fine. I'll stop asking."

Silence.

"_**This is the song that doesn't end-**_"

_Okay. That's it. Soundwave, pull over and let me out of the trunk SO I CAN DECAPITATE HIS HEAD! _

"Cassettes: cease violent and inappropriate behaviour. Immediately."

Once again silence descended. Soundwave reached over to the radio and put on some music to distract them all from violent thoughts. Nickelback's song _Rockstar _started playing.

_**I'm through standing in line to clubs I'll never get in, **_

_**It's like the bottom of the ninth and I'm never gonna win, **_

_**This life hasn't turned out quite the way I want it to be, **_

_**-Tell me what you want- **_

_**I wanna be great like Elvis without the tassels, **_

Soon everyone in the car was singing along to the music. Symphony smiled, Nickelback was a great band!

Though, after four minutes and fifteen seconds- Symphony really did love counting- the song ended and silence crept through the good natured atmosphere, light hearted moods soon turned bored, and with boredom comes the annoying need to ask unwanted questions…

"Seriously- when are we going to get there?"

"Rumble... SHUT UP." Symphony gave her brother the 'if-you-don't-stop-doing-what-I-don't-want-you-too-do-I-will-hurt-you' look. Exclusive to women only. She found herself using that look more and more often lately.

0o0o0o0o0

20 minutes later.

"Soundwave, I'm hungry!"

"Soundwave, I need the loo!"

_Soundwave, Buzzsaw is pushing me! _

_Soundwave, Laserbeak is telling tales! _

_Soundwave, I need to stretch my legs! _

"Soundwave, this song is rubbish!"

"Soundwave, Frenzy is poking me!"

_Ow! Soundwave, Frenzy's poking me, now! _

"Cease and desist all inappropriate behaviour!"

"Soundwave?" Symphony spoke for the first time in twenty minutes and forty-two seconds.

"Yes, Symphony?"

"…We need to pull over."

"Why?" Rumble frowned.

"There's a police car with it's sirens on that's been following us for three minutes and thirty-seven seconds."

_Well, that was… a very good reason and… very precise._

Soundwave looked at the refection of a black and white police car, sirens on, coming towards them fast.

_That can't be right…_ Soundwave thought to himself, _I'm not speeding; I haven't passed through a red light, I haven't done anything remotely illegal… so what does he want? _

Then it dawned on Soundwave and the telepath had to make a major effort not to swear in front of his Cassettes.

One name ran through his head. Over and over again. Taunting him about how the universe was unfair and Primus- despite blessing him with his darling Cassettes- really didn't like him.

_Prowl_. 

Soundwave looked in the mirror again, yes, it was defiantly Prowl. Soundwave could feel the conscience of the Autobot in his mind now. Prowl was _fragged off_.

_I wonder why…_

"Dad! What do we do?" Rumble asked, his loudmouthed personality getting the better of him again.

"We pull over." Soundwave answered.

_I just hope it's the right thing to do._

Soundwave eased the car over to the side of the road. Prowl followed, coming up right behind him. The Autobot got out of the car, Soundwave noticed how he was dressed like a police officer. How fitting. Of course it would explain the police car… Was Prowl posing as a human officer? Or, was he an actual member of Earth's enforcement? Did it really matter if he was about to be arrested and turned into the Autobots? Probably not.

Soundwave mentally prepared himself for the oncoming confrontation, but he couldn't help wondering, _How did Prowl know it was me?_

Said mech came up to the window of the car, eyes narrowed, mouth set in a thin line, and tapped on the glass, a signal for Soundwave to roll down his window. The blue haired man rolled it down quickly. His creations were deathly quiet in the back of the car, he didn't risk turning round to look at them.

Prowl was silent, obviously waiting for Soundwave to make the first move.

So, Soundwave- with lack of better option- said something so familiar to him, due to all the late night human movies he had watched with his beloved Cassettes, it seemed to be the only thing that made sense at the moment.

"Hello, officer… What seems to be the problem?"

Someone in the backseat giggled. Prowl didn't even twitch.

_Oh boy._

0o0o0o0o0

Jasper: And that ladies and gents was the chapter! And, yes, I promise they will get there eventually. Eventually.


	7. Chapter 7

Jasper: Here is the new chapter! Finally! I'm so sorry for the delay, folks. My computer crashed. And when I say crashed I mean CRASHED, taking most of my files with it. Don't you just hate technology sometimes? Meh, I'm kidding. I love my computer to pieces. Sad, I know. But enough about me and my disturbing affairs- ON TO THE STORY!!

0o0o0o0

Rumble stared at Prowl in shock. How in Primus's name did he find them?! Soundwave was practically untraceable! The Autobot certainly shouldn't have been able to find them. Rumble started to feel a little uneasy; he wasn't sure how they were going to get out of this one. Even if Soundwave shot Prowl and-

_Hey, that's a pretty good idea! _Rumble thought to himself. Symphony and Buzzsaw turned to him, confused.

_What's a pretty good idea? _Buzzsaw asked him. The young Cassette grinned at the yellow condor, _The Boss can shoot Prowl! Then, we'll be rid of the Auto-scum and we can get a move on and meet Screamer, Megs and Shockwave at the TBO. _

_What's the 'TBO'?_

_Stands for Temporary Base of Operations. Duh. Don't you know anything? _Rumble snorted at Buzzsaw.

_It does not! You made that up. And wouldn't it be 'TBOO'? Temporary Base Of Operations?_

_No, 'cause ya leave out the 'o' of 'Of' out. Bird-brain. And besides, 'TBOO' sounds really stupid. Like you. You're stupid. _

_Am not! _

_Am too! _

_I think you mean 'are too', _Symphony corrected, _if you're going to exchange insignificant insults, please, make sure your grammar isn't as bad as your comebacks. You've had many an argument that are _exactly_ like this one. Last time Rumble and Frenzy went on for twenty-three minutes and seventeen seconds. We do not need a repeat. And besides- _Symphony's voice turned stern, _there is an Autobot officer standing outside the car and all you can do is fight?! _

_Which reminds me!_ Rumble exclaimed, _Soundwave can just shoot him! _This idea was met with blank stares. _Rumble. We all thought of that, and we all came to the same conclusion it's a really stupid idea. Shooting a police officer isn't going to help us lie low! _Symphony snapped.

_They wouldn't know it was us! _

_Ruben- I mean, Rumble, there is a camera _right_ over there, stationed on the lamp post._

_Aw, slag. _

_Rumble: attention. Language: unacceptable. _

"There's a fragging Autobot interrogating you, and you still have time to reprimand me on my language?!" Rumble cried. Then he noticed everyone looking at him and realised he'd shouted the last part out loud. 

"Um. We gonna be tried as adults or…" the rest trailed off in nervous laughter.

0o0o0o0

"They're not following us."

Megatron turned to his SIC and frowned. "What do you mean 'they're not following us'?"

Starscream gave him a withering stare and a sigh that Longhaul would be severely proud of, "I _mean_ that they're not following us. Soundwave. And his Cassettes. I can't see them. They're no behind us and I'm not picking them up on the scanner." As if to prove his point the Seeker tapped the infernal contraption in his hand and it beeped loudly. And then it beeped again. And again. And then it wouldn't stop.

"Okay, Starscream! We get the point, you can't see them, and the scanner isn't picking them up! You can stop it now!" Megatron snapped.

"I'm trying! The Primus forsaken button is stuck!" the Seeker spat back.

"What, the green one?" Shockwave asked from the back seat.

"No, the red one."

"The red one. Why is it _always_ the red one?" Megatron muttered to himself.

"Probably because the red button usually symbolises something important and-"

"Shut up, Shockwave." Starscream sneered.

2 minutes if almost-silence as the scanner continued to beep.

"Starscream, would you shut that thing _up_?!" Megatron snarled, Starscream only sneered at him.

3 minutes later, Megatron was pretty sure he was going to kill his subordinate if he didn't stop that thing soon.

5 minutes later, Megatron was pretty sure he was going to make it very painful.

7 minutes later, Megatron was pretty sure he was going to kill Shockwave too. Just for fun.

2 minutes later- it stopped, and Megatron breathed a sigh of relief. Then the beeping intensified and became a shrill whining sound. It sounded like someone was strangling a cat. Or Starscream. It took most of Megatron's willpower not to smash his head into the steering wheel and kill everyone in the car. Although killing everyone in the car _would_ make him feel better. Except for himself. Killing himself would _not_ make him feel better.

"What's up with it now?!" Megatron roared at Starscream.

"Um, it says there are Autobots back there." Starscream said.

"Back where?!"

"Er, back _there_." The Seeker gestured behind him.

"Soundwave…" the tyrant growled.

"No, **Autobots**. Though I suppose Soundwave is probably back there too."

Megatron ignored the babbling Seeker and spun the wheel, turning the car and upsetting the other motorists. "Right." He muttered as he drove off in the direction of his TIC, "I am _so_ going to kill someone."

0o0o0o0

Jasper: Megs to the rescue! Hang on Soundwave and co, he's coming to scare away big ol' meanie Prowl! Review an' tell me wotcha think folks!


End file.
